The present invention relates to a decorative acoustical ceiling or wall surfacing fabric and more particularly to a foam-coated fabric provided with a three-dimensional decorative architectural pattern and a process for making this three-dimensional fabric. The fabric is used as a ceiling board facing or a wall facing.
There are several commercially available ceiling boards which utilize glass fabric as the decorative facing. Generally, however, the fabric covered board is spray painted in a separate operation to achieve the desired textured, three-dimensional, and nubby appearance. Ceiling board manufacturers have frequently expressed their need for a pre-finished fabric which would exhibit and retain a three-dimensional, nubby appearance, and which requires only lamination to a base substrate to produce a salable ceiling board.
Previous work has concentrated on utilizing various weave designs employing textured fill yarns as a means of obtaining a nubby appearance. Suitable fabrics were then padded with highly loaded solutions of resin and pigment for color and opacity. The fabrics which resulted, however, did not exhibit the required texture and nubby appearance sought by the industry.
A foam coated ceiling board facing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,342 issued on July 24, 1979 in which a cellular foam coated fabric is made by sculpturing a layer of vinyl or acrylic foam on one or both sides of a nubby textured fabric. The foam is applied and distributed over the entire surface of the fabric. While the products described in my earlier patent exhibit an enhanced degree of loft, texture and nubbiness to the fabric, in many applications a further feeling of depth and dimension is desirable.